What's Weighing Him Down
by 77Xfire
Summary: Two-shot. Followup to Zero Gravity Sickness. When Izuku suddenly collapses due to some sort of illness, which Recovery Girl can't seem to heal, Ochako decides it is time to repay the favor.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

* * *

 _ **You're… going to die?**_

Izuku was gathering his things, getting ready to head over to the cafeteria for lunch. As his friends watched him though, it was clear to them that something was off with the boy.

 _ **Mirio should of been the one to inherit One For All**_

Izuku was sagging behind, and appeared to be deep in thought about… something.

 _ **I want you tell the world "I am here."**_

He continued this way, not paying any attention to his surroundings, and not even saying anything when he bumped into a couple of other students.

 _ **Didn't you say you were going to surpass me?**_

Suddenly, his thoughts were cut off by a familiar voice.

"Hey, Deku?"

Izuku looked up to see Ochako's worried face.

"Are you alright? You seem really out of it today."

…

 _ **I… love… you…**_

…

 **THUD**

* * *

To say that Ochako was worried would be the understatement of the century. How could one blame her though? Her best friend, and crush, had just suddenly collapsed in the middle of the hallway. It happened so fast that she didn't have the time to react and catch him, something she was beating herself up over. When she finally realized what had happened, she tried to get him to wake up, with no success. Deciding that panicking would only make things worse, she quickly used her quirk on Izuku and carried him to the nurses office.

"Well, I have good news and bad news." Recovery Girl said when she finished the examination. "The good news is that he doesn't have a fever."

"Ok… and the bad news?" Ochako asked, relieved that he wasn't in this state because he took care of her while she was sick the other day.

"The bad news is that I can't seem to figure out for sure what is wrong with him." Recovery Girl explained. "As such, I won't be able to treat him."

"Ok, so what do we do?" Ochako asked, wanting to help in any way she could.

"What I am going to do is keep him here and wait for him to wake up. When he does, I will try and get to the bottom of what happened." Recovery Girl said as she walked over to Ochako. "What you are going to do is get back to class. I know you are worried, but you need to stay focused on your school work."

"B…but…" Ochako said, clearly wanting to help.

"Listen, as of right now if you stayed here and tried to help, all you would be doing is sitting around waiting with me for him to wake up. Then, when he does wake up, all you would be doing then is watching as I asked him a few questions, and I can't let you miss class to do just that." Recovery Girl explained. "Come by when classes are done for the day. If there is anything I may need help with, I will let you know then."

"…Ok…" Ochako said, turning towards the door. "I will be back later then."

"I will be here." Recovery Girl responded as Ochako left the room.

A couple of hours had passed, and classes for the day were going to end in just over half an hour.

"W…what happened?" Izuku said as he finally lifted his head from his pillow.

"You passed out on your way to lunch. Scared your friend half to death while you were at it." Recovery Girl explained.

"I… I did?!" Izuku asked, starting to freak out a bit. "H-How long was I out?"

"A couple of hours."

"W-WHAT?! Oh no, I missed half of a day of classes! What am I going to d-" Izuku said before suddenly coughing a bit.

"Well, guess that confirms my theory." Recovery Girl said.

"Theory?" Izuku asked.

"Tell me, what is the last thing that you remember before you passed out." Recovery Girl asked.

"Well… where do I begin." Izuku said before he began to explain everything that was going through his mind earlier that day.

Meanwhile, Ochako wasn't doing so well.

She couldn't focus at all during any of her classes, only able to think about her friend that was currently in the nurses office. It didn't help that she had skipped lunch too. The others had noticed it, but decided that it would be best to just leave her to her thoughts.

Eventually, the class had ended for the day, and Ochako rushed out of the room and went straight to the nurses office.

Only to find that Izuku was already gone.

"Well, you sure got here quick." Recovery Girl said when Ochako had entered the room.

"Uh… Where's Deku?" Ochako asked. "Is he alright?"

"Well, he woke up about a half hour ago, I quickly found out what was wrong with him, and then I sent him back to the dorms." Recovery Girl explained.

"Oh! Well that's great!" Ochako said, happy about the good news. "So… what was wrong with him?"

Deciding to get straight to the point, she answered with one word. "Stress."

"Uh… excuse me?" Ochako asked, confused as to what the hero had meant.

"Midoriya has been feeling very stressed as of late. It had gotten so bad that it began to affect his health, eventually causing him to pass out earlier today." Recovery Girl explained. "As such, I sent him back to the dorms, and ordered him to take tomorrow off to clear his head. Which, is where you come in."

"Wait, what do you mean by that?" Ochako asked.

"You said you wanted to help him, correct? In my experience, having a friend to talk to can be the best way to relieve stress. As such, I want you to spend the day with him tomorrow and help him relax a bit." Recovery Girl explained. "Just think of it as repaying him for taking care of you while you were sick the other day."

"Are you sure that I can help him though? Maybe Iida would be the better choice…" Ochako asked.

"You will be fine, don't worry. Now, off with you! I have other things that need my attention." Recovery Girl said as she walked towards the door. "And don't worry about class tomorrow, I will explain everything to Aizawa."

And with that, she was gone, leaving a stunned Ochako behind.

 **End of Chapter 1**

* * *

 **Finally getting around to this! I promised this a loooooong time ago, and I finally figured out exactly how I was going to do it.**

 **I am not 100% sure if someone could actually get sick from feeling stressed, not gonna lie, but it sure felt like it for me whenever I got stressed from school. The beginning SHOULD make it obvious what it is that is making Izuku so stressed, but it will become more clear during chapter 2, which will come out tomorrow.**

 **Anyways, I hope you all enjoyed, and I will see you tomorrow for Chapter 2!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

* * *

Ochako wasn't surprised when she found out that Izuku was already up to date on the plan. She had assumed that Recovery Girl had told him when she sent him back to the dorms the other day.

So now, here they were, in the student lounge, with Izuku resting on the couch while Ochako was making some lunch.

"Are you sure you don't want me to help?" Izuku called over.

"Yes I am sure! You need to get your rest!" Ochako responded from the kitchen.

Up until now, the day had been very uneventful. All they did was sit around and talk about their classes and training, among other things. Ochako had been trying to get Izuku to open up a bit, as she assumed that his stress had something to do with his schoolwork. While she did indeed get him to talk about how the work was starting to get a bit overwhelming for him at times, she knew that there was something else.

There was something else that was weighing heavily on Izuku's mind, and she was determined to figure out what it was by the end of the day.

"Here you go!" Ochako said as she handed Izuku his sandwich.

"Thanks. You really didn't need to do that." Izuku said.

"Well I wanted to!" Ochako responded as she sat down and took a bite out of her sandwich.

After a while, the two of them finished eating and began talking again. This time, they talked about the upcoming culture festival, and how Izuku was hoping that Eri would be able to join them.

Once that conversation finished however, Ochako decided to make a move.

"Hey Deku?" Ochako asked suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Is there anything else that is bothering you?" Ochako asked. "I know you said that you were just stressed about the school work, but it never seemed to bother you before."

Izuku then suddenly got very nervous. "Uh well, you see, with everything that has been happening lately it just got a bit overwhelming! That's all!"

While Ochako still wasn't convinced, she decided to leave it alone for now. The only way for her to get him to talk was probably to guess what was really wrong, and she didn't want to try doing that. As such, she decided to talk about something that she knew Izuku would love to talk about.

"Hey, can you tell me more about your quirk?" Ochako asked.

"Huh? M-m-m-my quirk?" Izuku said, starting to stutter… well, more than he usually does at least.

That was not the reaction Ochako was expecting.

"Well, yeah. You always seem to love talking about peoples quirks, but I realized that you never really talk about your own! So, I was curious!" Ochako explained.

"O-oh! W-well, it is j-just a strength e-enhancing quirk! T-that's all there i-is to it!" Izuku said, his stuttering getting worse and worse.

"… Deku?"

"YES!" Izuku responded quickly and loudly.

Deciding to go with a gut feeling, she asked the one question on her mind.

"Is your quirk the reason why you are so stressed?" She asked.

Ochako's theory was confirmed when Izuku seemed to completely tense up.

"Uh, well, no it doesn't… why would my quirk…" Izuku started, stuttering the whole way.

"Deku, like I said, you are always so happy to talk about peoples quirks, but when it comes to your quirk, you start to freak out." Ochako explained. "Is… is there something wrong with your quirk? I know that it used to hurt you when you used it, but is it even worse than that? Is…" Ochako then starting tearing up. "Is your quirk killing you?"

After a moment, Izuku sighed before giving a response. "Can you give me a bit? I need to think about something." Izuku said as he stood up.

While she was frustrated that he was trying to dodge the question, and while she did not get the kind of response she was expecting, but she decided to give him the time that he requested. "Sure, take all the time you need." Ochako responded.

And with that, Izuku went up to his room.

When he got there, he took out his phone and made a call. Thankfully, he knew that this person was available to talk at the current moment, so he didn't have to wait.

"Hello?" All Might said as he answered the phone.

"Hey All Might." Izuku said.

"Ah, Young Midoriya! I heard that you were supposed to be resting today, is everything alright?" All Might asked his student.

"Yeah, everything is fine. I just wanted to ask you something." Izuku responded.

"Well, ask away!" All Might said.

"Well… I wanted to know if…" Izuku started before taking a deep breath.

"I want to tell Uraraka about One For All."

The response was pretty much what Izuku expected, with what sounded like coughing which was probably accompanied by some blood.

"Ahem. Sorry about that, your request just caught me off guard." All Might explained. "So, why do you suddenly want to tell her like this."

"Well…" Izuku said before explaining everything, from his conversation with Uraraka just now, to him finding out about her loving him earlier in the week.

"I see… so young Uraraka is worried that your quirk is getting you killed… and she is in love with you." All Might said.

"Yeah… I feel terrible that I am making her go through this… so I was thinking about telling her." Izuku explained.

Normally, All Might would of said "No" right away. It was too important to keep One For All a secret. However, this time he found himself thinking about what had happened the other day.

 **Yesterday**

All Might was currently at his desk, grading some tests that the students recently took. That is, he was, until Recovery Girl walked in.

"All Might, come with me." Recovery Girl said to the retired hero, to which he complied.

After a short period of walking, the two finally arrived at the teachers lounge. After closing the door and locking it, All Might took a seat.

"So, I heard that Young Midoriya wasn't feeling well, is everything alright?" All Might asked.

"That is what I wanted to talk to you about, actually." Recovery Girl explained. "You are putting too much pressure on the boy."

"Um… what do you mean?" All Might asked.

"When he woke up, he told me everything that has been on his mind lately. Most of it has to do with One For All. The stress of all of it had caused him to collapse." Recovery Girl explained.

"I… I see. Very well, I will try to help ease his mind ab-" All Might started.

"When and how are you going to do that?" Recovery Girl asked. "You are too busy all of the time, between teaching and your other responsibilities. You haven't even been able to spend much time training the boy!" She explained.

"Well, what do you suppose that I do?" All Might asked, not believing that there was much he could do.

"Well… how about you let him tell someone about One For All?" Recovery Girl asked, earning a shocked look on All Might's face. "The poor boy has no-one to talk to about any of this! You had your teacher as well as Gran Torino to talk to as, so you were fine. The boy though? He has you, but you are busy all of the time, and Bakugou, which we both know that he is not a great person for Midoriya to talk to about this."

All Might thought about it for a bit, then he gave his response. "Well, while I agree that he should have someone to talk to when it comes to One For All, you have to understand that this heeds to be kept a secret."

"Oh? Come now, you yourself have told some of your closest friends, so why can't he?" Recovery Girl started. All Might was about to interject, but she was having none of it. "And don't you dare say that Naomasa is the only one, cause I know for a fact that you told that Shield guy." She said, whacking All Might with her ruler.

"… You have a point there." All Might said, surrendering. "Very well, but under one condition…"

 **Back to the Present**

"Well Young Midoriya, this was actually something I was thinking about quite recently." All Might said. It wasn't a complete lie, since he was thinking about it since his conversation with Recovery Girl. 'Didn't think he would actually ask about it though…' He thought.

"O-oh. Well, what do you think?" Izuku asked.

"I will allow it." All Might said, much to Izuku's elation. "But, under two conditions. The first is that she must promise that this information must never be shared with anyone."

"Ok… and the other condition?"

…

"Oh, you're back! Is everything alright?" Ochako asked as Izuku returned to the lobby.

"Yeah I'm fine, just needed to think about your question, and find out a couple of things." Izuku said. "Listen, what I am about to tell you, it is incredibly important that you never, EVER tell anyone about this. Not Iida, not the other girls, not even your parents. Do you understand?"

Caught off guard by this, Ochako stood in silence for a moment before giving her response. "If it is really that important, then I will keep this secret with my life!"

"Well, lets begin with when I was four…" Izuku started as the two took a seat.

The next hour or so Izuku explained everything, to how he was originally quirkless, to how he met All Might, and finally, everything about One For All and All For One.

"Wow… that's a lot to take in." Ochako said when he finally finished. "So, the reason why you used to hurt yourself with your quirk was because you just weren't used to it yet?"

"Yeah, that's right." Izuku said.

"Well, that is a huge relief! I really did think that it was killing you!" Ochako said with a slight laugh. "And you were also feeling stressed about having to fight that All For One guy right?"

"Well, he is in jail right now, so I am not worried about him… Shigaraki on the other hand…" Izuku explained.

"Oh right, you said that you think he might be the one who was going to get All For One next, right?" Ochako asked.

"That's right, I am worried that he might become too much for me and I will just end up… well…"

"Yeah, I can see why you would be worried about that, and the whole 'Need to be All Might's successor' thing."

"It's… it's just a lot that I have to deal with, and I guess that not having someone to talk to about it stressed me out a bit." Izuku said.

While Ochako was inclined to believe that that was all, something about how Izuku was acting still seemed a bit… strange.

"Are you sure that's everything? You still seem kinda… out of it." Ochako asked.

With a sigh, Izuku decided to answer. "Well, there is not other thing that doesn't have to do with One For All."

**Earlier**

"Ok… and the other condition?" Izuku asked.

"The other condition is that you talk to her about what you heard her say the other day." All Might explained.

"W-WHAT?!" Izuku practically screamed.

"Listen, I don't know much about love, but I do know that keeping that all bottled up is not healthy, for both you, and Young Uraraka. So, for sake of both of your health, you need to tell her and talk to her about it." All Might explained. "Trust me on this."

"… Are you sure?" Izuku asked, unsure about all of this.

"Have I ever led you astray?" All Might asked.

"… Well…" Izuku said jokingly.

"Oh cut that out." All Might said. "Just do it, trust me, you will thank me later."

**Back to the Present**

"Ok, and what is that?" Ochako asked.

"Well, when I was taking care of you the other day, when you were sick, you said something in your sleep." Izuku explained.

Ochako then became very worried. 'I didn't…'

"You said you…" Izuku started before swallowing thickly. "You said that you… loved me."

'I DID!' Ochako thought, face turning completely red. "O-oh! Did I really say that?"

"Yeah…" Izuku responded.

"… So, what you did that night… wasn't a dream?" Ochako asked.

Now it was Izuku's turn to turn red, he had completely forgotten about that. "Uh… no, it wasn't."

"So… does that mean that…" Ochako asked, feeling hopeful.

"… Yes, yes it does." Izuku responded.

"Oh! Well, that's good…"

"So… what now?" Izuku asked

…

 **A couple of hours later**

"WE'RE BACK!" Mina yelled out as she burst into the dorms.

"Not so loud! Midoriya might be sleeping!" Iida scolded.

"Oh come on, I am sure he is fine." Mina said. "You heard what he said, he just needed to relax a bit, that's all!"

"Yeah, well to some people, sleep is considered relaxing!" Iida said back.

"Uh… guys?" Toru said, sleeve lifting up slightly, as if she was pointing at something.

When the arguing duo looked to where she was pointing they were caught completely off guard.

Izuku and Ochako were currently making out on the couch.

The group, which consisted of most of class 1-A at this point, just stared dumbfounded at the apparent couple. When the two finally separated, they noticed everyone's presence.

"Oh! Uh, h-hey guys! You're back early!" Izuku said, his face turning a shade of red that put Kirishima's hair to shame.

"No we are not." Todoroki said as he walked by, not really caring about what was happening.

"What… what the heck happened?!" Mina suddenly shouted.

"Well, it's a long story…" Ochako responded shyly.

The two then went into a long explanation as to what had happened between the two of throughout the day. Of course, they left out the part about Izuku's quirk. Throughout their explanation, Ochako looked over to her new, apparently boyfriend, and was pleased when she saw a genuine smile on his face the entire time. She didn't use her quirk to do so, but she was happy that she was able to get rid of what was weighing him down.

 **The End**

* * *

 **Still not dead! Just really bad at this whole "Schedule" thing. So sorry, I will try to get better now that school is done, but I can't make any promises. For now though, enjoy this... pretty long chapter.**

 **The end to this I do feel is kinda rushed, but I honestly couldn't think of anything better, so I just went with it.**

 **If you are wondering who Shield is btw, he is (according to a translation I saw) apparently All Might's best friend who we are going to be seeing in the movie coming out fairly soon.**

 **Finally, if you are wondering what's next, I am thinking I am going to update my Pokemon story next, then get into a follow up to another story I have had the strongest urge to write a followup for. I consider that story my greatest work, and can't wait to add onto it.**

 **Until then, thanks for reading, and have a nice day. :)**


End file.
